Food, water and clean air: All are essentials in our daily lives. But mobile devices? They may not be critical to survival, but a majority of consumers around the world (56%) can’t imagine life without them, and 53% say they feel anxious when their devices aren’t close at hand.

Indeed, for many consumers, mobile devices are a constant companion with powerful benefits. Among global respondents, 74% say they appreciate the freedom of being connected anywhere, anytime, and 70% strongly or somewhat agree that their mobile device has made their life better. This constant connectivity has changed the nature of connections. Fully two-thirds of global respondents (66%) strongly or somewhat agree that electronic interactions are replacing face-to-face ones, and almost half (47%) say they’d rather text than talk. In fact, interactions are turning into transactions.

Using Mobile as a Shopping Sidekick

For many consumers, mobile devices have become indispensable shopping buddies. More than half of global respondents say they use their mobile device when shopping to compare prices (53%) or look up product information (52%). More than four in 10 respondents use their device to look for coupons or deals (44%), make better shopping decisions (42%) or make shopping trips quicker or more efficient (41%).

The Nielsen Mobile Shopping, Banking and Payment Survey was conducted March 1–23, 2016, and polled more than 30,000 online respondents in 63 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East/Africa and North America to understand how mobile devices are influencing three distinct yet interconnected activities: shopping, banking and payments. Nielsen examined the kinds of mobile shopping, banking and payment activities respondents are currently engaged in and their likelihood to participate in the future. We also examined the barriers to adoption for mobile banking and payments, as well as the incentives that would encourage wider use. The sample includes internet users who agreed to participate in this survey and has quotas based on age and sex for each country. It is weighted to be representative of internet consumers by country. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. However, a probability sample of equivalent size would have a margin of error of ±0.6% at the global level. This Nielsen survey is based only on the behavior of respondents with online access. Internet penetration rates vary by country. Nielsen uses a minimum reporting standard of 60% internet penetration or an online population of 10 million for survey inclusion.